GAME REPORT

Hosts Hammer Latvia

Sandrine Gruda and France gave the home fans exactly what they had expected

By Joe Hewison

Turning Point: This result was never in doubt but France's 11-0 run at the end of the first and beginning of the second quarter really crushed any remaining Latvian resistance as it came when many of France's starters were on the bench.

Stats Don't Lie: Celine Dumerc only scored one point, highlighting the fact that this is far from a one-woman show.

Game Hero: Most of France's players were operating on a different level to their opponents but Isabelle Yacoubou typified this, dominating the paint, showing great touch under the basket and getting the fans off their feet with some big blocks.

France may have pleased a capacity home crowd with a 62-39 win over Latvia in their EuroBasket Women opener in Trelaze - but coach Pierre Vincent was not quite so happy.

France dominated from start to finish, never trailing and controlling all areas of the court behind the terrific post play of Isabelle Yacoubou.

A frenetic French crowd were brought to their feet on a number of occasions by terrific play by their hosts as they lived up to all expectations.

However, despite being satisfied to have finally started their campaign, and with a victory, coach Vincent could still see room for improvement.

He said: "We are really happy to start after a long day. It was difficult to wait.

"We have made one step but we have a long way to travel, lots of games and big expectations, but we have to forget that and to play game-by-game respecting the game on defence and offence.

"I was not too happy with the way we played the game on offence. We were under a bit of pressure and we have to balance it more with outside shots and our tough inside game."

France were in front early and never looked like relinquishing their advantage. Ominously for any upcoming opposition, the defining run in this game came with the majority of France's starters actually on the bench.

After that sequence took them to 26-9, at the start of the second quarter, it was never that close again. Yacoubou was particularly impressive scoring 17 points while also playing the role of fans' favourite with a couple of huge blocks late on.

COACH QUOTES

Quotes Latvia vs. France

France Head Coach Pierre Vincent

"We are really happy to start after a long day. It was difficult to wait. We have made one step but we have a long way to travel, lots of games, big expectations but we have to forget that and play defence and offence."

France player Celine Dumerc

"It was a long day to wait until nine tonight. We are happy because we were a little bit scared of this team in offence. Now the competition has started and we can breathe out and play the rest of the games."

Latvia Head Coach Aigars Nerips

"It was a very hard fight for us under the basket, too hard sometimes. It was an excellent game, great to see a full gym and I liked this atmosphere. We didn't defend well or box out and that is why we got too many fouls in the beginning."

Latvia player Liene Jansone

"Coming into this game we knew it was going to be a tough one, playing the opening game in France against the French team in front of their fans. They were strong, dominating inside and we had problems down there and on offence they were everywhere."